Jalen Brunson calls out Knicks owner James Dolan for ‘trap question’

As bad as New York Knicks owner James Dolan can be at answering questions, he might even be worse at asking them.

Dolan recently made a rare media appearance, joining Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart on their Roommates Show podcast. And during the interview, Dolan was asked about the decision to hire Leon Rose as team president, and how their initial three-year plan has played out.

“We’re kinda there,” Dolan said. “I mean, yeah, I mean that, the uh, um, you know, we the uh, actually, I think KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns) was sort of the last piece. Um and uh yeah, I think that uh, we’re, I mean I’m not expecting any significant changes.”

While Dolan might believe the Knicks are finally built to win a title, you can hear and read that he clearly seemed uncomfortable with the idea of hitting them with championship expectations. And as he fought his way through an answer, Dolan eventually passed the buck off to Brunson.

“It’s all up to these guys and the coach to make it happen,” Dolan said before turning to Brunson. “I don’t know, do you think we’re missing any piece?”

Brunson had three options. The Knicks captain could say, “Yeah, we need another superstar.” He could say, “No, we should win a championship this season” or he could call out the team owner for putting him in an awkward spot. Brunson chose the latter.

“That’s a trap question” Brunson answered without hesitation.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Dolan said awkwardly.

Maybe he didn’t mean it that way, but Dolan was undoubtedly setting up their biggest star to either throw his teammates under the bus or make guarantees he can’t keep. Luckily for the Knicks, Brunson is more media savvy than Dolan is.

The Knicks spend all this time trying to keep their players and coaches protected from any non-obligatory interviews or media appearances, but as it turns out, their owner is the one asking the trap questions.